


Ousted By Jealousy

by obs3ss1ons



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Jealousy, Secret Relationship, Team as Family, team finds out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-25 23:18:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18172739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obs3ss1ons/pseuds/obs3ss1ons
Summary: Sullivan has a barbeque and invites the team. He tries to set Lucas up with a friend. Vic watches it happen, gets upset, and tries to leave.





	Ousted By Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

> I was angry about something unrelated when I wrote this, so Vic's anger might be a touch overdramatic. Sorry about that.
> 
> This is from Prompt #14 from @madnephelite's list of prompts.

The backyard was full of people. And it smelled amazing thanks to the grill Sullivan and Lucas were running. Vic had been hesitant to show up at Sullivan’s house for this barbeque, but between Lucas and Andy, she’d given in. And she already wished she stayed home. Andy brought Ryan and had yet to leave his side. Maya was busy flirting with Jack, though she wouldn’t admit that’s what it was. Ben was on vacation with his family, so he couldn’t make it. Dean and Travis were busy playing with all the kids.

And Vic didn’t know anyone else there besides her boss and her boyfriend. Her secret boyfriend only two people there knew about. Plus he was actually getting along with Sullivan. She didn’t want to disturb that with her awkwardness. So she sat at one of the picnic tables, sipping lemonade and watching people enjoy the warm summer day.

She scanned the crowd again in an attempt to watch Lucas without being obvious. And stopped. And stared. A woman had joined the two men standing at the grill. She stood between them, but from Vic’s point of view she was closer to Lucas than Sullivan. Vic had never seen her before, and the only women Lucas had ever mentioned were his mom and sister. Sullivan said something, and the woman slapped his arm. Apparently she was familiar with him.

Then Vic watched her touch Lucas on the arm and smile up at him while he spoke to her. Vic had to look away. She wasn’t a jealous person. Never had been. But seeing another woman clearly flirting with Lucas and not being able to do a damn thing about it pissed her off. She understood why they needed to stay secretive. It didn’t bother her most of the time. But at that moment, she wished she could march right over to him and kiss him. Let everyone there know that they were together.

Instead, she stood, set her drink on the table, and rushed toward the gate at the side of the house. She wrapped her arms around her middle and hurried toward the front. Travis was her ride, so she couldn’t leave. But she couldn’t stay at the party either. After pacing across the driveway until she felt somewhat calm, she pulled out her phone to call for a ride. A message came in just as she unlocked the screen.

Of course it was from Lucas, asking, “Everything okay?”

A sob escaped. She hadn’t even realized she was crying. Why was she crying? It was stupid to cry. She roughly tried to wipe away her tears and clenched a fist around her phone. She wanted to throw it, but that would’ve pissed her off even more. So she ignored the text and sent one to Travis instead. “Going home. Explain why later.”

Then she pulled up the app to get a ride home. Travis was having fun, so she didn’t want to make him leave. It wasn’t his fault her boyfriend had another woman fawning over him. The thought boiled up her anger all over again. Which probably wasn’t a good thing considering she had her finger poised over her phone, ready to submit her ride request, when she heard a very familiar voice. “Victoria, what’s going on? Why are you leaving?”

Vic slid her phone into her pocket and spun around. “Just go back and enjoy the party, Chief.”

His look of surprise satisfied Vic a little bit. Then it changed over to concern. “Hey, babe, talk to me. What happened that’s got you so riled up?”

She looked away from him, feeling tears burn her eyes again. “That you even have to ask says a lot.”

“Did I do something?”

A hysterical laugh erupted from inside her. She turned her back on him and lifted her gaze to the sky. She needed to get out of there. She wanted to just go home and pretend the day never happened. But of course she couldn’t have that because life was cruel. She hadn’t even wanted to go to the party. Yet the man standing behind her had said it would be good to join her team for some fun outside the station. Then he had to go and make it the worst day she’d had in a really long time.

Vic faced him again and let her anger show full force. “I just had to sit there and pretend everything is normal while watching another woman make a pass at you. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it because the people in that yard don’t know that we’ve been seeing each other for the last seven months. Those people are my family. The only family I have. And because of who you are, I have to hide half of my life from them.”

“I’m sorry, Vic,” he said, moving closer and holding up both hands in surrender. “I’m so sorry you had to witness that. I’m sorry you have to lie to your friends, your family. And I’m sorry that my position keeps holding us back from telling the world.”

She huffed, “You can take your apologies and go find whatever her name is. I’m going home. Alone.”

“Will you just listen to me?” Lucas pleaded, grabbing her arm.

Vic looked down at his hand and back up at him. She kept her voice low as she told him, “I am too pissed right now to listen to anything you have to say. Let. Go. Of. Me.”

He did. But then he asked, “Why are you so mad at me? You’re making a big deal about nothing.”

“Oh, so you chatting up someone else right in front of me is nothing?”

“I didn’t do anything!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. Vic watched him. His hands went to their usual place on his hips. His head lowered enough she couldn’t see his face. When he did look up at her, she saw the exact same expression she had the night of the skyscraper. The look he gave her after she yelled at him for leaving her team inside alone.

Pain was the number one emotion she could see reflected back at her. Anger was in there as well. And a touch of sadness mixed with disbelief. Vic’s heart skipped a beat. Her lungs began to ache. She knew what was coming. What he was going to tell her. And she deserved it. Jealousy had gotten ahold of her, and it was going to take away everything that was good in her life.

She opened her mouth to tell him not to bother saying it when both of their phones went off at the same time. Usually that meant being called in to work a big scene. Vic dug her phone out once more and found a message from Travis to both of them. She glanced at Lucas as she opened the message. More tears threatened to fall as she read, “If you care about either of your jobs or reputations at all, get back to the party. Some lady just ousted you to everyone.”

“Shit!” Lucas let out. Vic lifted her gaze to watch him. His profile faced her, and he appeared to stare toward the house. He ran a hand over his hair. But he didn’t look at her.

Vic stepped toward him and said softly, “I’m so sorry. I’ll go do damage control. I’ll go to HR tomorrow and turn myself in.”

He did look at her then. “Turn yourself in for what?”

She shrugged. “For seducing you into a relationship with a subordinate.”

“The hell you will,” he told her. “We made that decision together. I will not let you take the fall for this.”

“Lucas, please. Your job is more important than mine.”

“Not to me.” He stared into her eyes, daring her to say more. Vic deflated. She couldn’t handle any more. Not the fighting. Not the secret keeping. Not the jealousy.

Vic let out a long sigh and said, “We need a united front if we’re going back there. Especially with Sullivan. I know he’s your friend, but he’s my boss. He won’t have a choice but to report us, reprimand me.”

“He won’t do that,” Lucas assured her. “He’ll give us time to do it ourselves. And with your whole team knowing, we don’t have a choice.”

“So, how do we deal with the situation your blabbermouth admirer created for us?” Vic asked.

Lucas gently caressed her arms and said in a calm voice, “I need you to know I did everything I could to turn away her advances. Sully thought we would hit it off and introduced us. And that’s my fault for not telling him that I’m in love with someone. I truly am sorry that you had to see all of that.”

“It hurt, Lucas,” Vic admitted. “I’ve never been so uncomfortable, so ashamed in my life. What if Travis or Jack saw what happened?”

He shook his head and let a small smile creep onto his lips. “If either of them thought I had any willing part in it, the whole city would know about us. And I’d probably be in a coma.”

She couldn’t stop a short laugh from escaping at the idea. “That is true. They are just like my older brothers, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” he told her. “Travis is the one who sent me to find you.”

Lucas swiped a finger across his phone before handing it to her. Travis had sent him a message that said, “Vic is upset. Go fix it. Don’t come back without her, and she better be smiling.”

“Oh my God,” Vic laughed out as she handed back the phone. She wiped the last remnants of her tears away and asked, “So shall we go before he comes to hunt us down?”

“Too late,” came Travis’s voice from behind Lucas. They both faced him. “You need to get in there, like, right now and sort this mess out.”

“What happened?” Vic asked.

Travis threw his hands out and told them, “Not long after I sent this guy to come apologize, this lady came storming into the yard yelling at Sullivan about setting her up with his married friend.”

“Married?” Vic and Lucas echoed at the same time.

“Yes, married,” Travis repeated. “Then Sullivan had to go and announce that Ripley isn’t married to anyone but the job.”

“Accurate at one point,” Lucas interjected.

Travis continued, “So the lady describes you. Perfectly. Even the people who don’t know you figured it out. Now everyone is throwing out suspicions and speculating. Jack and I are getting real uncomfortable. So either you go say whatever you need to say, or I go tell everyone you left. Together.”

“We’ll go make an announcement,” Lucas stated, grasping Vic’s hand. She silently asked if he was sure. He shrugged and said, “It’s already out there. We might as well go with it.”

“Oh, good. I’m just going to go hide and watch,” Travis declared. He disappeared around the side of the house again.

Lucas started to walk off, but Vic held him back. “I’m sorry, too. For the jealousy and for not letting you explain. I’m sorry.”

He kissed her forehead and whispered, “You’re good, babe. I don’t blame you.”

They shared a warm smile. Then, holding hands, they walked to the back yard. All conversations stopped, and everybody looked at them when they appeared. Vic sucked in a deep breath. She avoided her friends' eyes, knowing she would see judgment in every single one. And she deserved it. Not only was she dating their boss three times over, but she had kept it from them. For months.

Lucas cleared his throat and announced, “I know this is a shock to most, if not all, of you. I’m not sure exactly what you’ve been told, but the truth is that Victoria and I are in a relationship.”

“But not married,” Dean stated rather than asked.

“Not married,” Lucas repeated.

“I knew it!” Maya shouted. Everyone looked at her. She shrugged. “What? They haven’t been very subtle. Can you seriously tell me none of you figured it out?”

Vic watched her team exchange looks. Dean focused on Travis. “You’re her best friend. Did you know?”

Lucas squeezed Vic’s hand and spoke before Travis could reply. “It doesn’t matter who knew before this moment. Right now, all of you are finding out.”

Sullivan cleared his throat. “How long has this been going on?”

Vic finally found her voice and responded sheepishly, “Seven months.”

Her captain's eyes went wide. He stared straight at Lucas. Vic really hoped they hadn’t just undone all of the recovery the two had made on their friendship. Telling her best friend had lightened the burden some. But Lucas hadn’t been able to tell his for obvious reasons.

“Wait a minute,” Andy stated. “You mean you have been keeping this big of a secret from all of us for seven months?”

Vic couldn’t help but smile. “It was hard. Like, really hard. But necessary."

“Isn’t this illegal or something?” one of the guests Vic didn’t know asked.

Lucas answered, “Illegal, no. Frowned upon in the department, yes. We will be dealing with that tomorrow.”

“The department doesn’t know?” Sullivan called out.

“We know what will happen, so we wanted to put it off for as long as possible,” Lucas explained.

Vic finally let herself study her friends' reactions. Maya had a knowing smile on her face. Jack seemed bored. Dean appeared aloof as usual. Travis looked like he was trying not to say something, or laugh. Andy was frowning and had actually pulled away from Ryan. And Sullivan, well, he clearly was not happy.

“You know,” Sullivan started, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling as only he could do. “You’ve put us all in an uncomfortable situation.”

“How?” Vic asked. “We’re telling HR tomorrow.”

Sullivan glanced around, making eye contact with every member of the team before settling back on Vic and Lucas. “Like you said, you know what will happen once the department is notified.”

“Yes, but it’s no longer a secret. We have no choice but to notify them ourselves and hope to reduce the consequences,” Lucas responded.

“Does anyone that’s not here know?” Sullivan asked.

Vic shook her head. Lucas stated, “Only my sister.”

“She doesn’t count,” Sullivan commented. Lucas gave Vic an I-told-you-so look. She rolled her eyes.

Jack, seeming to suddenly understand something, said, “We’re family. Family keeps secrets for each other. Protects one another.”

“What are you saying?” Andy asked.

“We can’t let anything happen to either of you,” Dean commented.

“We stick together,” Maya added.

“Guys,” Vic cut in, holding out the hand not holding Lucas’s. “I can’t let you do this for me. Not again.”

“Again?” Lucas inquired.

“I’ll explain later,” Vic told him.

Sullivan moved toward them and cleared his throat. “Nobody here will say a word until you tell us to. Right?”

Vic felt her eyes water as her teammates each called out, “Yes, Sir.”

Even Andy joined in before adding, “I’m still not on board with this, though.”

“Like you have the right to speak against it,” Jack told her.

Ryan leaned around her to look at Jack. “Seriously?”

Jack shrugged and grinned. Lucas looked at Vic. She whispered, “You don’t want or need to know.”

Lucas looked back to the group. “I seriously cannot ask all of you to hide this. I won’t be able to protect you once the department does find out.”

“You didn’t ask,” Maya pointed out.

“We volunteered,” Dean added.

“We’re family,” Sullivan concluded. Vic shared a smile with Lucas. Her team knew, and they were protecting them. She was safe, for a while at least, and yet didn’t have to worry about hiding her relationship from her friends anymore.

Travis appeared in front of them and held a hand out to Lucas. As they shook hands, Travis said, “Welcome to the family, Chief.”

Vic let out a half-cry, half-laugh and wrapped her arms around her best friend. She released him only to turn and pull Lucas in for a kiss. His hands settled on her hips as their mouths opened to each other. Vic ignored the catcalls, whistles, and uncomfortable groaning that came from around the yard. She concentrated solely on telling Lucas everything she felt through the kiss. Elation. Relief. Love.

He finally broke away but rested his forehead against hers. They were both breathing hard. She stared into his sparkling eyes, lost in a world without surroundings. Lucas pressed his lips to hers one last time and said, “What do you say we enjoy the rest of the party? Together.”

“I’d like that,” she replied. After sharing one more quick peck, they linked hands and faced everybody. The others had mostly gone back to enjoying the party. Except Travis, who still watched them with a childish grin. Vic laughed and punched his arm. Then she let Lucas lead her to the grill, where Sullivan and another guy were placing the cooked food onto serving dishes.

Vic was somewhat able to enjoy the rest of the day. Lucas’s admirer disappeared. Sullivan mentioned she was a bit mad at him but would get over it. Vic’s team seemed to ignore her and Lucas showing affection. She wasn’t sure if it was because they accepted it that easily or if they were uncomfortable but didn’t want to show it.

Either way, she expected a ton of calls, texts and bombarding questions when Lucas wasn’t around. But considering what they were doing for her, she’d gladly answer any and all of their questions. Even the ones they really didn’t want to know the answers to.


End file.
